White Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti

Festive biscotti laced with the cool, zinginess of peppermint and balanced with the sweetness of white chocolate, perfect for Christmas morning and worthy of gracing your holiday cookie platter.

Biscotti are dry, crunchy cookies destined for dunking into coffee, tea or dessert wine. They were traditionally made without fat and twice baked to produce a hard cookie. The cookie dough is baked into a long loaf the first time, cooled, then sliced and baked a second time to make them nice and crunchy.

This modern version includes enough butter to make them more like a cookie. My secret is to bake the cookies just a few minutes the second time around so they remain soft enough to eat without needing to be dunked. Shh. . . don’t tell anyone. In some circles a soft biscotti is sacrilege.

Andes makes special Peppermint Crunch baking chips that are like a mix of white chocolate and peppermint. You can usually find them in the holiday baking/candy aisle or with the chocolate chips. If you can’t find them use a mix of crushed candy canes or peppermint candies and white chocolate chips.

In a large mixing bowl or in a stand mixer cream butter and sugar on low speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt on low speed just until blended. Stir in peppermint chips.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 4 equal pieces. The dough will be sticky, flour your hands or wet them lightly with water. Place each piece, one at a time onto baking sheet and form into a loaf about a foot long, spacing them 3 inches apart. Sprinkle tops with sugar if desired.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Remove and allow to cool 10 minutes, use 2 spatulas to remove to wire racks and cool completely.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the completely cooled biscotti loaves on cutting board and cut on the diagonal into 1/2 inch wide slices. Place in a single layer on baking sheets and cook 12 to 15 minutes for traditional biscotti or 5 minutes for a softer biscotti. Cool again on wire racks.

Add the white chocolate and shortening to a medium bowl and microwave in 30 second increments until completely melted. Drizzle over tops of biscotti or dunk the ends or sides. Place on parchment paper to set. Store tightly covered in a cool, dry place.